Innovation

It seems like every leader today is advocating for more innovation in their organization. That being said, a research study at my son’s high school found that students are extremely cautious and make “safe” choices in order to position themselves as quality candidates for University selection.

I discussed this with the principal of the school and he corroborated my concern that our youth are risk-averse. Students face enormous pressure to obtain good grades and move on to reputable universities where admissions criteria favor GPA (grades) more than courageous, innovative thinking. This pressure to be risk-averse is completely at odds with the desire of modern-day Executives, to have more innovative thinking in the workplace.

The gap between desired and actual is significant. If our youth are learning to avoid risks, how will we teach them to take calculated risks and be creative? How are we going to build a new generation of agile and innovative leaders?

Currently, I’m seeing troubling behaviour in several organizations I work with. Leaders are:

Spinning messaging to suggest “everything is going just fine” even when there are important issues impacting a project’s success

Saying no to anything that does not have a predictable result

Dragging feet in their decision making

Interestingly, these behaviours are sometimes in complete contrast with the very thing these leaders are asking for: “try something new, we need a change, we need to be progressive.”

This is not simple to shift given fear of failure and anticipation of negative consequences if they fail. So how do we encourage and promote innovative thinking and action amongst our leaders?

It needs to start with a shift in mindset and beliefs from “failure is bad” to “failing is not a bad thing”; “failure is part of learning;” and “failure is part of the drive for progress.” Organizations need to create environments where leaders and employees are encouraged and have the ability to make calculated risks and ultimately, build their innovation skill, capacity for change, and comfort with ambiguity.

Establishing a “learning lab” (i.e., R&D) environment allows for experimentation and begins to shift the dominant culture of risk aversion to one that is more open and willing to experiment. Giving permission to push the envelope, question status quo and try things differently is the way to build a more flexible and adaptive culture.

This can be done through prototyping which research has shown mitigates risks and allows for building on lessons learned—both successes and failures.

Rather than jumping head on to building an innovative culture, consider creating smaller R&D type lab environments that encourage prototyping, pushing the envelope, double loop learning and building capacity around taking calculated risks. Debrief, learn, adapt and eventually, in time, expand this ‘lab environment’ across your organization to be the culture you all work in.

Labelled Tinkerbell and Mighty Mouse by colleagues and clients, Erica is a culture catalyst and leadership mentor. She engages teams, supports them through change and empowers them to be at their best. Connect with Erica on Twitter, the Incrementa website, or her personal site.